A whiff of the past
by HiddenEye
Summary: "That hardly seems fair," Suyin protested. "You told Lin her father's name was Kanto without any clues, why do I have to guess?" "Because figuring things out is in your blood," Toph told her flippantly, sidestepping a crater. "Do you want to know or not?" Tokka.
Disclaimer: Everything belongs to their respectful owners.

A/N: I'm still sticking with the original hc (canon) that Sokka is Suyin's father and it would be hell freezing over the moment I admit otherwise. And from what I heard, Toph did it at the South Pole soooooo YEAH. I'M STILL DOTING ON SOKKA

* * *

"I know you told Lin."

Toph didn't even turn around to acknowledge the intruder to her quiet morning as she continued staring up at the statue of her younger self, feeling the weight of the stone on that designated place more than actually seeing it with her own two sightless eyes. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Come on, Mother," Suyin stood beside her, hearing the same sigh of weariness that settled in Toph's bones for as long as she could remember. "Lin told me how you two made up when I was captured, and I know in order to do that you had to tell her something that bothered her in the first place."

Toph felt the corner of her mouth raised slightly in amusement. "And what would that be, detective?"

There was a rustle of fabric as Suyin crossed her arms, a frown in place that her mother couldn't see. "I know you told her who her father is."

Toph knew this would happen the moment she told one of them one of the things she kept hidden from them in the first place, why she went to Zaofu and stayed for a while until her youngest would come to her and confront the situation herself. Suyin didn't disappoint, not a week later after the war, Toph was already needed.

The hidden accusation and hurt buried under Suyin's façade of neutrality were bearing their heads through the cracks, even if she tried to push it back down without rising suspicions. Toph thought it was rather fruitless, since she could feel the way Suyin's heart pumped erratically through the floor, sending waves of conflicted emotions towards the earthbender easily.

Toph finally faced her, tilting her head slightly as if she was looking at Suyin in the eye. "You want to know who your father is, I assume?"

"Yes," Suyin answered without missing a beat, her voice limpid through the breeze that managed to sway their hair and clothes, and she softened her expression when she let the air calm her down. "I'd really like that."

Toph hummed, rubbing her chin as she let her foggy eyes search her daughters face, before moved away from the spot. "Since you wanted to know so much, I'll give you some clues."

Suyin fell into Toph's pace as they walked towards the pillars where it used to held her meteor collection, now pitifully empty that she wanted to mourn for the loses. "That hardly seems fair," Suyin protested. "You told Lin her father's name was Kanto without any clues, why do I have to guess?"

"Because figuring things out is in your blood," Toph told her flippantly, sidestepping a crater. "Do you want to know or not?"

Suyin nodded, and winced when her mother didn't even look at her way. "Of course. But on _one_ condition, you have to answer every question I'll ask without any exceptions. Deal?"

Toph waved away dismissively. " _Fine_."

Out of nowhere, Toph abruptly stopped in her tracks, causing Suyin to skid into a halt as well as they stood in the middle of the littered clearing of boulders and crumbled rocks. None of her family members or guards started cleaning up her city just yet since they were all too busy picking up the mess at Republic City, restoring the place into its former glory state with the help of the Avatar.

Suyin watched in confusion as Toph shifted into a stance, bare feet planted firmly on the ground while her arms raised slightly in front of her as they were pointed towards a rubble a few feet away from them. Without warning, the crumbled rocks began to quiver when Toph curled her fingers inwards, and Suyin warily prepared herself for danger as the sound of metal against rock filled in the space. Then, a meteorite flew out of it with high speed that she had to duck to avoid being hit.

She watched the way Toph easily caught it in her hand, where the space rock fitted perfectly in her mother's palm. "For one," Toph began to speak as she transformed the rock into various shapes. "He gave me a leftover piece of meteorite after making a sword," she let out a snort. "The idiot called it space sword. And it looks like you inherited his wacky sense of interest by collecting them."

Without warning, Toph threw it towards Suyin, where the younger woman managed to catch it with her hand spread towards it, the tip of the miniature sword barely grazed her palm. "I thought Kuvira took all of my meteorites," she muttered. Fascinated, Suyin took it in her hand and ran a thumb across the surface of the blade. "And the detail he did on his sword is stunning."

"It was his first real sword. He did hard work to prove himself that he was as good as the rest of us, even if he didn't see that he was already _quite_ good." There was a smirk, but Suyin could almost see the concealed sorrow in Toph's turn of lips. "If he heard that now, he'll be yapping about it all day."

Suyin stayed quiet for a while, letting the small copy rest on her palm. "Was he a non-bender?"

"Yep."

"What happened to the sword?" Suyin asked, looking up towards her mother. "Maybe I could-"

"Keep it?" Toph questioned with a raised of an eyebrow that easily made Suyin feel embarrassed, as if she was fourteen years old again, she noted sourly. "I don't think the guards would appreciate it if you take something of his away from his home, that scrap's been considered as an artefact already."

Something clicked. "So, he's a legend?"

Toph didnt answer, and instead walked away. Suyin tried catching up with her while she tucked the small space sword in her pocket. "You promised to tell me everything, Mum."

Toph ignored her. "He lost the sword once, but I managed to track it down years later and gave it back to him," Toph clicked her tongue, delicately folding her hands behind her back. "Almost squeezed me to death when I did."

Suyin noticed how blatantly easy Toph steered the subject away from her. But before she could say a thing about it, Toph cut her off. "He's a hero like the rest of us, and that's all you need to know."

They walked in silence for a while, avoiding the mess around them. Suyin could feel the ground quivering when the city was slowly put back together by the people, working together to get it done faster with her keeping an eye on them to guide them when needed, and help them when she could.

It was then she found herself standing in the middle of Huan's art gallery, his sculptures crushed beyond repair that she couldn't help but be sorry for her son. Though his art was something...different and new than most things she saw, he worked hard on them, and she knew that his passions had always been more artistic than his other siblings, who looked more contented in practising their bending or preparing for combat.

"He liked to paint."

Suyin tried to imagine a man holding a brush, painting delicately with the sun in front of him as his identity was still concealed. "He was an artist?"

"Not exactly," Toph snickered, an old memory flashing past her eyes. "I didn't know how bad he was at it, but I heard it was pretty bad. He wasn't going to give up, so he ignored our teasing and continued doing whatever he was doing."

"Did anyone keep his paintings?"

"Tenzin has some," Toph started walking again. "You could ask him after you figured this out."

Suyin followed her, where they started to aimlessly thread through the land as her mind dissected the two clues her mother told her. It was tricky, since anyone could have been her father.

She spread her hand in front of her, flexing her fingers to get rid some of the dull throb she felt when the tone of her skin caught her eye, a darker shade from both Toph and Lin that caused many questions to be asked when she was younger on whether or not she really was Toph Beifong's daughter. That caused her to be upset then. She understood as she grew older, but that didn't make her anymore happy.

"He's from the water tribe, isn't he?" Suyin murmured, lowering her hand down. "That's why I'm darker than you and Lin."

"Exactly."

She faced her mother. "Would you please tell me who he is?"

"Hey, I told you to guess," Toph snorted. "I'm not going to say anything until you connected the dots on your own when I gave you clues."

" _Mum_ ," Suyin groaned slightly. "Just tell me."

"Nope."

Sighing, Suyin rubbed her cheek in thought, forcing herself to think of this mysterious person who caught Toph's attention when they were younger and was her biological father to this day, whether or not he was alive was a different thing altogether.

And she perked up when that particular question had yet to be answered.

"Is he still alive?" Suyin asked enthusiastically. "Maybe after this, I could visit him and talk to him after all these years, and we'd catch up a few things we didn't manage to experience. And I'll bring Bataar and the kids along with us so that they know who their grandfather is."

Then, she noticed the way Toph pursed her lips, her hunched back seemed to tensed slightly when she finished talking.

Suyin deflated. "He's dead?"

"As a warrior," Toph told her, voice carefully natural even if her body betrayed her thoughts. "He was trying to protect Korra from being kidnapped when we first find out she was the next Avatar, and got killed then."

Suyin froze in her steps, realising that he was actually much closer than she thought he would be when he was trying to save Korra. There were very few people who were in charge of taking Korra to safety, and only one water tribe warrior. Her heart started to bang against her chest when the clues mingled together, vaguely revealing her someone she might know. Toph noticed her daughter's absence beside her and stopped as well, her back facing her.

"Have I ever met him, Mum?" Suyin questioned quietly, her soul too full of hope. "I did, didn't I? He was there when you gave birth to me, he was there when you had meetings with the Councilmen. And," she swallowed thickly, forcing herself not to show any weakness. "He was there when Lin and I played with each other."

Toph turned around to face her, her expression softened tremendously as she gave her daughter a small smile. "He had been looking out for you, he even treated Lin like his own."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Suyin demanded hoarsely, tears stinging her eyes.

"You have to understand, Su," Toph said quietly. "He was a councilman, he needed support from people to make them listen to him since the other councilman didn't know anything more than we did. And I almost took that away from him," she shook her head to get rid of the past pain she experienced. "A councilman having an affair with the Chief Police? What a joke. We would be in the papers if we weren't too careful, but it's obvious that we failed to do that."

Suyin almost took a step back from the amount of pressure that seemed to press on her chest. "I was an accident," she realised with some pain. "I-"

"But you were never a mistake," Toph cut Suyin off before she could say anything else. "You and Lin were _never_ a mistake. I had a few bumpy roads along the way when I was taking care of you two, but doesn't everyone when they look after their children?"

Suyin hung her head. "Does he know about me being his?"

There was a sharp intake of breath, and Toph then stood beside her. "In the end, he found out."

Suying snapped her head up to look at her. "What did he say?"

Toph looked away. "I tried to push him away to save his reputation, but of course, the Meathead couldn't care about it when people started depending on him and visited us when he could. Publicly, he was another uncle. But to you and Lin, he was already a father you both desrved," she sighed. "Lin didn't see it, she wanted to know the man who didn't exist in her life."

"He wasn't exactly happy when I sent you away after that mess you caused," Toph continued, and Suyin grimaced. "Said he had an opinion on it, but none of us had a choice then if we were going to save you from going to jail."

Suyin wasn't exactly proud of her younger days then, where she was irresponsible and brash that made Lin have a headache while her mother had to dispose the evidence of her crime and throw her out of the city to give her a second chance. She felt guilty for the trouble she caused them, even if the public didn't know of the fact that the Chief's daughter herself got involved with a gang of thieves.

But to know that her _father_ -the man she had dreamed of meeting for years and years had actually been under her nose all this while- knew of her crime made her feel disgusted with herself more.

She decided to change the subject.

"Did you love him?"

Toph stiffen, before forcing herself to relax with some difficulty. "I did."

Suyin let out a breath, not knowing how to feel about this information. "I'm glad then."

She was surprised when Toph tugged her into a hug, her mother's thin arms wrapped around her neck. "He's proud of both of you, you know," Toph muttered, and Suyin answered the hug just as tightly. "He always had, like I do."

Suyin nodded, a tear escaping her eye as it ran down her cheek. "Thank you."

When they straightened themselves up, Toph smirked. "Your first word to him when you were a baby was saying his name, and Sokka couldn't shut up about it the whole day that I was tempted to let the ground bury him fully."

Suyin laughed, feeling the weight lifted from her shoulders.

* * *

Suyin stared up at the statue, a tiger lily in hand as she wrapped her arms tighter around herself.

Night at the Republic City was eerily quiet than the last time she remembered, even if that had been years ago. The bustling of the crowd was absent as the civilians had yet to come back from their evacuation during the battle, streets empty and dark as shops were still closed, exception of the broken apartments that were still on the roads, creating a mass of boulders and dust.

The street light shone dully onto Councilman Sokka's face, highlighting the angle of his nose and the way those empty eyes stared over the city, protecting the people under his watchful gaze as he raised his boomerang in front of him.

She walked nearer towards him, and stopped at the slab of stone that he stood on, running her fingers onto the rocky surface. "Hi, Dad," she whispered. "It's been a while."

She closed her eyes, trying to search through her memories during the times when they spent together when she was a kid, anything to latch onto that she would cherish.

She remembered a tang of firewood, the touch of callused hands cupping her chubby cheeks as they wiped her tears with his thumbs, the faint rumble of laughter vibrating through her whole body as he held both of his little ladies to his chest, the words he uttered now lost among other memories.

Suyin remembered his goatee, remembered tugging it with her small hands playfully when he tickled her, remembered the sparkle in his blue eyes when Lin jumped onto his back, the tinkle of their laughter rang through the air.

With a smile, she saw Toph, young and beautiful with a smirk turned up, plucking her daughter from his arms easily as Suyin was brought to bed. Over Toph's shoulder, she remembered giving him a wave and a farewell as Lin followed them, but she didn't know whether he answered her goodbyes.

Suyin took a deep breath as she opened her eyes, tentively putting the flower between his feet and hung her head. "I'm glad you stayed even if Mum told you not to," she let out a breath of laughter. "The stubbornness runs strong in the family I see, could explain why Lin wanted to throttle me when she had the chance."

She ran her fingers on the stone again. "You have no idea how lucky I am for you to be in my life in those days, and I'm grateful," she looked up, as if expecting him to flash her a grin. "I really am."

She laughed airily. "I miss you," she choked out, clutching the edge of the stone. "I know you didn't see us much after I went to school, since you and Mum were busy catching horrible people while Lin started being an officer. I was so upset that no one would accompany me that I was searching for attention myself," she shook her head. "And look where that got me."

She straightened herself up, letting her hands run down her front to smoothen any creasing. She wiped away a tear with the back of her hand. "I'll see you when I can, visit here once Zaofu's done with everything."

"Su?"

Startled, Suyin whirled around, and saw Lin coming towards her with a frown on her face. "What are you doing here? I thought you were inside with the others." Lin gestured towards the Southern Water Tribe Cultural Centre, where the magnificent building loomed over them with its bright lights and admirable architecture.

Suyin smiled. "Could say the same thing about you, Linny. What are you doing, avoiding the party?"

Lin rolled her eyes, crossing her arms once she stood beside her sister. "Avoiding the question with another a question. Smart."

Chuckling, Suyin let herself relax. She looked up towards the statue again. "Do you remember Uncle Sokka?"

Lin shrugged. "I know that he was councilman here, and then he became Chief of the Southern Water Tribe."

"Other than that," Suyin waved away Lin's words. "Personal stuff, things than that he was a war hero with Mum and the rest of their gang."

Scrunching her forehead in confusion, Lin looked up as well. "He," she paused, and Suyin could see the way she racked her head to find the answers. "He used to come by the house, to play with us when we were younger, stayed over the night sometimes I think. Mum didn't mind," Lin looked over suspiciously. "Why?"

Suyin couldn't help but feel slightly envious that Lin remembered most of the time Sokka came over, since she was too young to do so. In the end, she shrugged. "Nothing," she pursed her lips, contemplating on saying her next words. "Don't you think he would be a great dad?"

Lin nodded. "He would," she took a breath. "He was."

Suyin wanted to laugh with relief at her words. "He was so good to us, wasn't he?" She muttered. "Sometimes I can't help but wonder if he would have married Mum."

Laughing shortly, Lin shook her head. "Mum wasn't the marriage type, but she did love him like he did to her," she smiled gently. "He became a father to me."

Suyin glanced at the older woman, Toph's earlier words echoed back to her. "You really think so?" she asked carefully.

"Well, he took care of us when we were younger, played with us, help Mum out around the house when you were born," Lin shrugged again. "He's as good as any father would be now that I thought about it."

"But you told Mum you didn't have a father figure in your life." Suyin reminded her softly.

Lin's shoulders hunched over with guilt, looking up at Sokka almost timidly. "I was so angry at her I didn't think what I was saying then, I didn't really mean that," she met Suyin's look. "Sokka was there when this Kanto guy couldn't even show up for my first day of school at kindergarten. I think I called him dad once when I was a kid," she smirked. "Never thought I saw him and Mum turn redder than the Fire Nation's emblem."

Suyin rolled her eyes. "You were such a bully towards them too. Why am I not surprised?"

"Oh, please," Lin tapped Suyin's bicep playfully with a fist. "They deserved it," they shared a chuckle. "You found out, didn't you?"

Suyin stared at her, and Lin raised both her eyebrows. "You found out who's your father?" She enquired again.

"Why do you look like you already know who he is?" Suyin asked warily.

"I don't, but I have a guess," Lin nodded towards Sokka. "Not a hard one too."

Suyin sighed, her shoulders slumping. "She told me a week ago when we were at Zaofu," she looked over curiously. "How did you figure it out?"

Lin let out a half smile. "Sokka was the only guy other than Aang and his family Mum let in the house, you can imagine the rest."

Suyin winced. "I rather not."

Silence fell in between them, before Suyin let out another heavy sigh. "Let's go inside, the others are probably wondering."

Lin blinked once to focus her attention on her sister from where she stared at the statue, and Suyin couldn't help but notice at how glassy her eyes became. Lin cleared her throat slightly, tightening her coat over herself. "Yeah, let's go."

Suyin let Lin go first, pressing her hand onto the cold stone a little longer, imagining that Sokka was really there with them as he watched the two sisters getting along with a wide grin on his face. She smiled at that image.

And then, she went in.


End file.
